El Salvador commutes women

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – El Salvador’s Supreme Court has commuted the sentence of a woman serving 30 years in prison for what she says was a stillbirth.

The court ruled Thursday that evidence in the case did not prove she took any specific action to abort the pregnancy, which is illegal in El Salvador.

Teodora del Carmen Vasquez said she was working in 2007 when she began to experience intense pain, then bleeding. She called for help before fainting. When she regained consciousness she had lost her nearly full-term baby.

Authorities charged Vasquez with aggravated murder and she was convicted in 2008.

In December, a court rejected her appeal of the sentence.

El Salvador is one of four Latin American countries with total bans on abortion.